Will India’s plan to raise legal age of marriage for women bring real change?
- The Indian government has decided to raise the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 in a push to ensure that girls complete their education
- While experts say the move will bring social and economic benefits for women, critics argue laws alone are not enough to fix entrenched problems and achieve equality
India has decided to raise the legal age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 – the same as men – in a push to ensure that girls complete their education and climb up the economic ladder.
On Wednesday, the national cabinet approved the recommendation of a committee, which had collected feedback on the issue from young Indians across the country.
The move to revise the legal age of marriage for girls for the first time in 40 years came after human development data showed that early union leads to a truncated education, teenage pregnancies and malnutrition. It also forces women into homebound life.
According to the National Family Health Survey 2019-21, as many as 23 per cent of Indian girls were married before they turned 18.
“To save our daughters from malnutrition, it is necessary that they are married at the right age,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said last year when he announced his intention to change the legal age.